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The universe appears to be positioning itself for actual productivity in my general vicinity. In the last couple of days I've finished Un Lun Dun (amazing all the way through, should be read by all fans of Alice, Neverwhere, word-play and self-consciously deconstructed quest) and (finally) Morrowind. Unless I can find another distraction in a hurry, I'm actually going to have to do some work.
Why is it that even very good RPG video games tend to devolve into a completely anticlimactic boss encounter? Admittedly I play these things at the speed of a smallish snail with lead boots on, which means I was probably approximately twice as powerful as I needed to be in the final stages, but even so it was pathetically non-challenging and completely free of surprises, complexities or layering. Also, these quest-style games suffer horribly from poor follow-through. When I've beaten the big baddie I damned well want to spend some time wandering around and seeing the results of my labours. OK, the sky is now blue and the blight storms have stopped, but where's the major social and religious restructuring resulting from the fact that I just offed a couple of gods? All the darned god-based spells still work. They shouldn't. And I'm not being hailed as a conquering hero by more than a token fraction of the people I meet. Where's the payoff, people? Pshaw.
In other news, I rather enjoyed Waitress - nicely made, well acted, intelligently scripted, although it was a lot bleaker than I expected. Not fun, watching someone trapped in an abusive relationship - the horrible husband was gut-clenchingly horrible. On the upside, food porn! And Nathan Fillion, looking geeky and rumpled and slightly adorable.
Last Night I Dreamed: I was designing and producing very successful children's toys from my penthouse flat and giant rooftop garden. Also, for some reason, teaching music theory to the builder's crew at breakfast.
Why is it that even very good RPG video games tend to devolve into a completely anticlimactic boss encounter? Admittedly I play these things at the speed of a smallish snail with lead boots on, which means I was probably approximately twice as powerful as I needed to be in the final stages, but even so it was pathetically non-challenging and completely free of surprises, complexities or layering. Also, these quest-style games suffer horribly from poor follow-through. When I've beaten the big baddie I damned well want to spend some time wandering around and seeing the results of my labours. OK, the sky is now blue and the blight storms have stopped, but where's the major social and religious restructuring resulting from the fact that I just offed a couple of gods? All the darned god-based spells still work. They shouldn't. And I'm not being hailed as a conquering hero by more than a token fraction of the people I meet. Where's the payoff, people? Pshaw.
In other news, I rather enjoyed Waitress - nicely made, well acted, intelligently scripted, although it was a lot bleaker than I expected. Not fun, watching someone trapped in an abusive relationship - the horrible husband was gut-clenchingly horrible. On the upside, food porn! And Nathan Fillion, looking geeky and rumpled and slightly adorable.
Last Night I Dreamed: I was designing and producing very successful children's toys from my penthouse flat and giant rooftop garden. Also, for some reason, teaching music theory to the builder's crew at breakfast.
